Cuba and Vietnam

Event Details

Julie Bunck and Mike Fowler, discuss the communist nations of Cuba and Vietnam in a post-Cold War context. Without the substantial economic support and strategic partnership of the Soviet Union, both countries were faced with major dilemmas. Bunck argues, however, that Vietnam was far more successful at coping with economic and political problems than Cuba due seven political factors: Cold War dependence, the rapidity of each regime?s response to the fall of the Soviet Union, the consistency of policymaking, leadership, national understanding of self-sufficiency, regional relationships, and long term commitments.